Monthly Archives: October 2015

Microsoft: Body-worn camera policy guide: Key guidance for managing body-worn camera video

Microsoft: Body-worn camera policy guide: Key guidance for managing body-worn camera video: Thinking of adopting body worn cameras? Here’s where to begin. Body worn cameras are the latest in technology enabling better policing. Departments across the United States and the … Continue reading

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Wired: Turns Out Police Stingray Spy Tools Can Indeed Record Calls

Wired: Turns Out Police Stingray Spy Tools Can Indeed Record Calls by Kim Zetter: The federal government has been fighting hard for years to hide details about its use of so-called stingray surveillance technology from the public. The surveillance devices … Continue reading

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NPR: Stealth Mode? Built-in Monitor? Not All Body Cameras Are Created Equal

NPR: Stealth Mode? Built-in Monitor? Not All Body Cameras Are Created Equal by Martin Kaste: Amid the recent pressure on police to wear body cameras, one thing is often overlooked: Not all cameras are created equal. In fact, cameras vary … Continue reading

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N.D.Ill.: With arrest in driveway on a fake drug deal, govt fails to show entry into garage was inevitable; cash suppressed

Defendant was handcuffed and questioned in his driveway about a CI’s planned transaction with him that the government controlled. He was handcuffed in his driveway and 10 officers were there. The court finds his statements about the money in his … Continue reading

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KY: No standing in GPS placed in a borrowed car

Defendant and others were suspects as serial robbers, and the police placed GPS devices on two cars in 2008. On defendant’s, he was not the owner and he just borrowed it. Placing the GPS in the first place was not … Continue reading

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IA: Grandfather could consent over his grandson living in separate room

Defendant was staying with his grandfather, who couldn’t get him out of the house to work and a shoving match ensued. Grandfather called the police and consented to a search. Defendant wasn’t paying rent, and precedent already holds that occupant … Continue reading

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CA8: Air filter could be searched in inventory

Defendant argued that the search of the air filter container was excessive for an inventory because it was not an area where things were normally stored. The policy explicitly provided for search of that area, and the court has previously … Continue reading

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DC: Custody for Miranda and Fifth Amendment purposes may be different than custody for Fourth Amendment purposes

Custody for Miranda and Fifth Amendment purposes may be different than custody for Fourth Amendment purposes. Morton v. United States, 2015 D.C. App. LEXIS 516 (Oct. 29, 2015):

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M.D.Pa.: Even though the officer had the PC for weeks, he was not required to get an arrest warrant

A warrantless arrest on probable cause is reasonable. Even though the officer had the PC for weeks, he was not required to get an arrest warrant. United States v. Kellam, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 146596 (M.D.Pa. Oct. 29, 2015):

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WaPo: FBI spy planes used thermal imaging tech in flights over Baltimore after Freddie Gray unrest

WaPo: FBI spy planes used thermal imaging tech in flights over Baltimore after Freddie Gray unrest by Andrea Peterson: In days after Baltimore burned with unrest over Freddie Gray’s death in police custody, two FBI surveillance planes circled low above … Continue reading

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LA1: Protective sweep of outdoor grill invalid when def arrested 20′ away

Defendant saw the narcs pull up and he walked toward them and was arrested in the street. Nobody else was in his yard. A protective sweep lifting the top of his barbecue grill when he was more than 20′ away … Continue reading

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WaPo: The Volokh Conspiracy: Fourth Circuit grants rehearing, eliminates split, on cell-site surveillance

WaPo: The Volokh Conspiracy: Fourth Circuit grants rehearing, eliminates split, on cell-site surveillance by Orin Kerr: If you’ve been waiting for the Supreme Court to decide whether the Fourth Amendment applies to government collection of cell-site records, you will probably … Continue reading

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AR: When two plan a homicide, it’s reasonable to infer their cell phones have evidence of communications related to the crime, so nexus shown

Where two men were alleged to have planned a homicide, it was reasonable to infer that the cell phone of one of them would have calls between the two planning and executing the murder. Therefore, the affidavit reasonably showed a … Continue reading

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CA5: Cadre of police and helicopter circling overhead not sufficiently “provocative” to make consent involuntary

Defendant’s consent was valid, and a bunch of police officers surrounding the house and a helicopter circling over head were not “provocative” enough to make consent invalid. [And what’s the purpose of the helicopter other than to intimidate? It sure … Continue reading

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VA: GPS device could be removed and reinstalled under same warrant

The GPS tracking warrant in this case was good for 30 days, and it was installed the day after issuance. When officers learned the car was going in for service, they recovered it so it would not be detected, then … Continue reading

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MA: Inventory proved to be pretext for investigative search; suppressed

The DEA directed the state officer to stop defendant for a traffic offense to find an excuse for a vehicle impoundment and inventory. Here, it was failure to signal, and the officer testified he wouldn’t have stopped somebody for that. … Continue reading

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E.D.N.C.: Collective knowledge doctrine applies between FBI and state officers

“The collective knowledge doctrine, however, is not limited to cases where a superior officer commands another officer. Rather, the doctrine properly may be applied in cases where information is relayed between different law enforcement departments, even when the agency possessing … Continue reading

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CA6: SW for person by alias and description was valid when he was under surveillance from issuance to execution

Warrants are usually directed at places and things not people, but here was a search warrant directed at defendant by his known alias and description. From the time it was issued until it was executed, defendant was under surveillance. It … Continue reading

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New Law Review Article: Wayne A. Logan, Cutting Cops Too Much Slack

Wayne A. Logan, Cutting Cops Too Much Slack, 104 Georgetown L.J. 87 (2015): Police officers can make mistakes, which, for better or worse, the U.S. Supreme Court has often seen fit to forgive. Police, for instance, can make mistakes of … Continue reading

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CO: Cell phone SW for indicia of ownership did not permit search of every folder in the phone

A cell phone search warrant for indicia of ownership did not permit search of every folder in the phone; that would be a general warrant. People v. Herrera, 2015 CO 60, 2015 Colo. LEXIS 1011 (Oct. 26, 2015). Syllabus by … Continue reading

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